A Word: Quinta Brunson: Comedy’s Class Act

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Slate Podcasts

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s Black Friday, prime time for many of us to binge on holiday leftovers and some of our favorite family-friendly shows. One of them is likely to be ABC’s Abbott Elementary. Before the show rewrote the lesson plan for workplace comedies, star and creator Quinta Brunson joined A Word to speak with Jason Johnson to talk about what inspired Abbott, her foundation in sketch comedy, and her unlikely path to showrunner. Guest: Quinta Brunson, writer, producer, and star of Abbott Elementary. She’s the author of the memoir “She Memes Well.” Podcast production by Jasmine Ellis and Ahyiana Angel You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for $15 for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word a podcast from slate. I'm your host Jason Johnson. It's Black Friday and we have a holiday tree before Abbott Elementary became a smash hit comedy, before it earned awards and praise and
0:15.9	arguably changed the way many Americans talk about teachers, we spoke to the creator and
0:20.4	star Quinta Brunson about how to make the struggles of an underfunded school
0:24.8	into a comedy show. People were doing this job they care that much they're being
0:29.6	paid pennies this is just what they. So I was able to show that.
0:33.7	Our conversation with comedian Quinta Brunson coming up on a word with me Jason Johnson.
0:39.3	Stay with us. Welcome to a word of podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host
0:53.1	Jason Johnson. It's Black Friday and while some of us are rushing around malls and
0:58.4	on the web for holiday bargains, many folks prefer to spend the day kicking back,
1:03.0	binging on leftovers, and some of our favorite television shows.
1:06.0	One of those is undoubtedly ABC's Abbott Elementary.
1:10.0	Since its debut in 2021,
1:12.0	it has rewritten the script on workplace comedies,
1:15.4	turned its cast into stars, and garnered countless awards.
1:19.2	It was not a predictable path for a show about a broken down urban school, but from its first a
1:25.0	not a predictable path for a show about a broken down urban school.
1:24.0	But from its first episode, Abbott was able to find the funny and the profound
1:29.0	in the lives of its characters.
1:30.0	And the force behind that success has been star and creator, Quinto Bronson.
1:35.0	There have been three presidents since this one, okay?
1:38.0	The old book.
1:39.0	So here's where I taped in the others.
	...

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